C# - Cast a byte array to an array of struct and vice-versa (reverse)

Question

I would like to save a Color[] to a file. To do so, I found that saving a byte array to a file using \"System.IO.File.WriteAllBytes\" should be very efficient.

I wou

Answer 1

Working code for reference (take care, I did not need the alpha channel in my case):

// ************************************************************************
// If someday Microsoft make Color serializable ...
    //public static void SaveColors(Color[] colors, string path)
    //{
    //  BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
    //  MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
    //  bf.Serialize(ms, colors);
    //  byte[] bytes = ms.ToArray();
    //  File.WriteAllBytes(path, bytes);
    //}

// If someday Microsoft make Color serializable ...
    //public static Colors[] LoadColors(string path)
    //{
    //  Byte[] bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(path);
    //  BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
    //  MemoryStream ms2 = new MemoryStream(bytes);
    //  return (Colors[])bf.Deserialize(ms2);
    //}

    // ******************************************************************
    public static void SaveColorsToFile(Color[] colors, string path)
    {
        var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();

        int count = colors.Length;

        using (var stream = File.OpenWrite(path))
        {
            formatter.Serialize(stream, count);

            for (int index = 0; index < count; index++)
            {
                formatter.Serialize(stream, colors[index].R);
                formatter.Serialize(stream, colors[index].G);
                formatter.Serialize(stream, colors[index].B);
            }
        }
    }

    // ******************************************************************
    public static Color[] LoadColorsFromFile(string path)
    {
        var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();

        Color[] colors;

        using (var stream = File.OpenRead(path))
        {
            int count = (int)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
            colors = new Color[count];

            for (int index = 0; index < count; index++)
            {
                byte r = (byte)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
                byte g = (byte)formatter.Deserialize(stream);
                byte b = (byte)formatter.Deserialize(stream);

                colors[index] = Color.FromRgb(r, g, b);
            }
        }

        return colors;
    }

    // ******************************************************************